General Introduction

Overall context – Insects as food & feed

Our planet faces huge challenges because of the growing population and increasing competition for scarce resources.

Whereas the global population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that the world needs to increase its food production by 70% by that time, mostly to feed such growing population.

Meat consumption & demand is forecasted to increase by 72% between 2000 & 2030, whilst 60 MT proteins are forecasted to be missing by 2030 in order to meet the expected demand.

Animal feed production is increasingly competing for resources (land, water & fertilizers) with human food and/or fuel production. This contributes to increase the pressure on the environment (e.g. water supply, deforestation or soil decline in producing countries).

IPIFF and its Members believe that insects as food & feed are part of the solution.

Insects as food

Whilst insects are already part of the staple diet of around 2.5 billion people worldwide, several indicators show that insects may soon become a widely accepted component of western societies diets, which includes Europe.